The other day I read a tweet by Michelle Nelson-Schmidt. It said, “What we do in this life, all of it, is as important as curing cancer.” Michelle is a children’s book author and illustrator. Her main point was if what you are doing matters to you, it matters. It matters a lot. It matters a whole lot!

I’ve met a lot of people in life who are almost ashamed of their job, their career, and the role they play in the everyday work-world. They apologetically say, “It’s not like what I do is curing cancer.” They basically are saying it doesn’t matter much. It’s not that important. It doesn’t make any difference or impact. It pales in comparison to the work of others. And, frankly, I think that kind of attitude leads to purposeless, unfocused, mediocre, sloppy and sad living.

Whether you are a chef, cop, clerk, carpenter, cable splicer, counselor, cantor, carpet cleaner, chiropractor or casket maker, what you do matters. Do not think your dream or passion is too small or mundane. We all have something to share. We all have gifts and talents. We all have something we are really passionate about. Discover it. Do it. When you are living out your dream, everyone around you will be blessed and encouraged.

An old adage says“If you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life.” That’s true. It’s absolutely true. I know from experience. And, the best way to describe hard work when you love it, is Heart Work. That’s it. Heart work. It’s work that comes from the heart. You love it so much you would do it for free if you could somehow pay your bills another way.

What you do in this life matters. And your passionate heart work will matter to others in ways you cannot begin to imagine. Now go find your heart work.

QUESTION:What is your heart work?Please share it with the rest of us. Thanks!

3 responses to Heart Work

Dennis, we just had a discussion about this in our small group last evening. One of our conclusions was that even if people feel ‘trapped’ in a job that they don’t like, for whatever reason, if they approach it from the verse that says to do everything we do as if we were doing it for the Lord, it’s amazing how the attitude toward that work changes over time. God puts opportunities in our path regardless of what kind of job we have.

My husband was self-employed for many years. We sold our business and he wondered what he was going to do. He was approached by a local Bible college as to whether he would be interested in joining their maintenance team. Part of that job is keeping up the grounds and landscaping. When they found out how much he enjoys that aspect of the job they basically turned that over to him. (He has changed the looks of the campus!) He has often said, “I can’t believe that I’m being paid to do this.” He’s a people-person which is perfect for that job because of the interaction he has developed with students from across the country. He is affecting people’s lives even though some people would look at that job as being unimportant. The people-interaction is where he gets most of his job satisfaction. I’ve often told him that he’s the “Grandpa” of the campus. 🙂

You are correct if you love your life work it isn’t (most of the time) really work. I many times have looked at my coworkers who have the same passion for the job and say “can you belive they pay us to do this”. There are those however who are stuck due to previous choices or nessesiity of life at the time that get stuck in jobs that are not their passion and they become drones and slaves to a job for the sake of a pay check. I would encourage these people to take that step even if it is a small gradual step to transition to that job of life they have always dreamed of but think it is to late or I can’t afford it. God will show you the way and will provide. The reward will be immeasurable in terms of life satisfaction.